§ MR. MITCHELL-THOMSON (Lanarkshire, N.W.)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the statement on page 42 of the Report on Southern Nigeria for 1906 (No. 554 of 1906), that the only outcome of the present legislation in game preservation has been to limit the shooting of a few bona fide European sportsmen, whilst the constant drain of animal life caused by literally 1303 tens of thousands of native hunters, who shoot everything they see night and day, in season and out of season, throughout the year, remains unchecked; and whether steps can be taken to put some effective check on this wholesale destruction of wild life.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe Government of Southern Nigeria is taking reasonable steps, by the creation of game reserves in various provinces, to check the indiscriminate destruction of animal life. It must, however, be recognised that with the small staff at the disposal of the Government it is not practicable to enforce the observance of game regulations over vast areas of densely populated forest country, where such legislation is not understood, and where in many districts every able-bodied man has been a hunter from time immemorial.
§ MR. MITCHELL-THOMSONIs any attention to be paid to the statements in the Report from which this Question is a quotation?
§ MR. CHURCHILLYes, Sir.